20th Anniversary by Saint Arnold Brewery is an 11.2% ABV English Barleywine.

COMMERCIAL DESCRIPTIONOur 20th Anniversary Ale is pure, with no additives or preservatives. In order to maintain the freshest flavor possible, we do not pasteurize our beer. Many of its subtle flavors are delicate and would not stand up to the heat of pasteurization. We recommend that this product be stored cold to avoid any degradation in flavor. Malt: This beer is brewed with Maris Otter, pale two row, Munich and Chocolate malted barley. Maris Otter accounts for 60% of the grist. Hops: We bittered the beer with Centennials, finished it in the kettle with Cascades and dry hopped with Simcoe. Yeast: We use our house Saint Arnold yeast.___

An awesome thanks to Aaron atwww.beermetaldude.comfor obtaining this beer for me. This beer is the main aspect of celebration for the good people at Saint Arnold Brewery in their 20 years of making awesome craft beer. From the few beers I have tried from Saint Arnold, thanks to Aaron, I have come to realize how delicious their work is. I know definitely have more to try from them but they also have even more new projects as the years go buy ever increasing the greatness that is Saint Arnold. Hopefully one day we get to see their beers in California. Until then, Cheers to the anniversary, cheers to my friend Aaron and cheers to you, the readers!!

Aftertaste:Grapefruit hops linger in the end but are faded by the sweet caramel, raisins and rye bread with sweet tropical fruit cake notes. No alcohol in the taste, a sipping beer, full mouth feel with a medium body.

Overall:Damn, goes to prove why I like this style so much. Not everyone makes a barleywine so good, but this one is definitely formidable. The balance of hops and sweetness comes together really awesome exposing a good variety of hoppy citrus flavors moving toward exotic fruits and getting into the caramel and dark fruit goodness. It seems well in tact and well maintained. At 11.2%, this is definitely ageable and I really wanna see what happens after another 20 years. Either way, great work on the anniversary beer to Saint Arnold and for sure, this beer should not be missed if you can get it.

Anime Corner:Dizzy from Guilty Gear was used in this beer to represent not only the colors but the whole aspect of saint. Even if Dizzy is an artificial magical creature, she well looks like an angel which fits with the whole aspect of the saint. The green wing is your hoppy side, Dizzy in the center is the tropical flavors while the white lady wing is the utter bliss and seduction into the realm of sugar. They pretty much are a part of her and how balanced and complex and almost heavenly this barleywine is, so is Dizzy. She is the representative of the Saint in Saint Arnold.

COMMERCIAL DESCRIPTION (Ratebeer.com)The color is deep amber with a light, creamy head. The nose starts off with a touch of citrus but then turns decidedly into peaches. The taste starts off with creamy malt resulting from the pale 2 row and caramel malts and Saint Arnold yeast. The hop bitter starts low then builds to a crescendo, but always maintains a balance even in its big finish. The hop flavor continues to be peaches, an interesting manifestation of the Columbus, Simcoe and Centennial hops. This is the first Divine Reserve that we have filtered. This decision was made to make the hop flavors brighter, plus it would have been a bottling nightmare with all the hop bits in it. This beer is best enjoyed at 45° or even a little warmer. Though the recipe and style indicate this beer to be enjoyed fresh, we expect this beer to develop interestingly over the years.___

Special thanks to my good friend Aaron of http://www.beermetaldude.com for proving me my second ever, Saint Arnold beer. This is truly a treat once again as this one is another fine example of a great brewery which we don’t get their beer here in California. The beer I had before from them was very awesome. So to that, I say cheers, thank you SA for making this and thank you Aaron for hooking up a brother Cheers!!

Overall:Aside from the Tropical end of IPAs, my second love is the malty IPAs. This beer is great and it is a great example of the malty IPA variety. As a reserve series, this is something I would expect, higher ABV and more sweet delicious hop oils. Reminds me of 90 minute IPA almost. Very delicious IPA and definitely worth picking up, if you live in Texas that is. Hope maybe us Socal peeps will get it one day.

Anime Corner:Original artwork by fangxian cuoluan is used in this pairing to represent the earth in the label of the beer. As the beer floats in space with its delicious flavors, it gazes at out existence to show the height of what delicious IPAs will go through. This beer reaches the height of IPA caramel and the rising sun so forth brings it delicious citrus and complexity. They say you can’t hear anything in space, but you can definitely taste it!!

COMMERCIAL DESCRIPTION:Important: let this beer warm to at least 50° before enjoying. This beer is black with some ruby highlights. The nose is full of pumpkin pie spices and some alcohol. There are notes of nutmeg, caraway and vanilla. The taste starts with chocolate malt with a hint of spice and rolls into a warm spicy alcohol taste which has the effect of creating the balance that usually comes from the hop bitter. There is some hop bitter on the finish, but not much. Overall, this beer finishes relatively dry for such a big beer. As it warms, the spices move forward in the taste and the chocolate moves to the finish. The pumpkin provides a pleasant undertone and a nice mouthfeel. The spices will probably fade some over time; they mellowed considerably while still in the fermenter.___

A special shout out to my friend Aaron at www.beermetaldude.com for hooking me up with this fine masterpiece of a pumpkin ale. Some of these goodies are not easy to get in California due to distribution laws in Texas. Regardless, it always good to know someone who can provide some ales from the outside. This is my first beer from St. Arnold brewing, the patron saint of brewers, and I have heard great things about this beer as being one of the best pumpkin beers out of Texas. It is a pleasure and an honor to review this beer and if you can find it, yes, do get this one.

Aftertaste:Clove spice, pumpkins, dark chocolate, milk chocolate, caramel, vanilla and ginger bread. Not sure about the description as the sweetness does linger and is not dry. There is no alcohol in the taste. This one is meant for sipping. Very well balanced, not overly spicy and not overly sugary. Just right.

Overall:There is no denying it, this is definitely one of the best pumpkin beers I have tried from 2013. It does great on its own to be come into par with even the barrel aged ones. I was able to find this one more appealing than even the Pumking and the Smashed Pumpkin. Although to be fair, they are not stouts, but this one is better than even T.R.E.A.T. Just like the label says, let it warm up to the proper temperature and you will get more flavors out.

Anime Corner:The original artwork for this piece is actually unknown. I took a picture of both the black and white one and the variant to showcase the unleash of the sweeter flavors. The artwork is mainly Halloween themed so it goes great with the beer. As far as the Saint Arnold part, I will leave that up to you to guess who Saint Arnold is in these pictures